Vegetable Gardening

Growing corn has always been a staple here in the south. We look forward to the time of year when tassels and silks form on the corn plants, because we know this means corn pollination is occurring and it won’t be long until we have fresh corn on the table. Corn is a heavy-feeding crop that requires quite a bit of water and nutrients to feed those tall plants and produce large, full ears of deliciousness. Adequate water in conjunction with proper corn pollination are the two essentials to producing beautiful ears of corn for summertime enjoyment.

Corn is a self-pollinating plant. It produces a male flower, which is commonly referred to as a tassel, and a female flower, which is commonly referred to as the silks. In order for kernels of corn to be produced by the plant, the male flowers must pollinate the female flowers. The male flower is located at the very top of the plant whereas the female flower is formed along the stalk of the plant. The male flower contains the pollen, which is primarily spread by wind, that will be used to pollinate the female plant. When planting corn, it is important to plant at least three rows side by side to ensure adequate wind pollination.

Tassels (Male Flower)

The female flower, or silks, are threadlike projections from the actual ear or cob of the corn. Each thread or silk represents an individual kernel on that particular ear of corn. Therefore, if the corn pollination goes as planned and each silk is pollinated, you will have a full ear of corn. If you have ears of corn that are not completely full of kernels, it is likely that you didn’t receive adequate pollination. While some might think that inadequate corn pollination is due to lack of wind or pollen distribution, it is more often a result of water-starved plants and the timing of female flower development.

The silks contain the most water of any part of the corn plant. So if your corn plants are water-starved, the female flower will be slow to develop. As a result, the male flower will develop much sooner than the female flower, and the pollen will have fallen to the ground by the time the female flower develops. Providing enough water to your corn plants is very important because it helps maintain the rhythm of the development of the male and female flowers. Without any silks to be pollinated, the pollen on the male flower is wasted.

Use Drip Irrigation for Best Corn Pollination

Silks (Female Flower)

Once corn plants become 4 to 5 feet tall, it can be difficult to provide enough water via an overhead source. Most of the water applied overhead will not reach the soil and will be lost to evaporation. Using drip irrigation for corn is a must here in the south. The drip tape irrigation allows us to put water directly where the plants need it. With the drip tape, we don’t lose hardly any water to evaporation and almost all the water we deliver is received by the plant. Consider using drip irrigation next season to ensure you get plenty of water to your corn plants so that the timing of flower development will be correct and you’ll have great, big ears of corn to eat in the summer.

It’s no secret that the plants in your vegetable garden need some combination of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) to thrive and produce to their full potential. Adding compost as a soil amendment before planting can definitely provide most of these required nutrients, but some crops will need additional fertilization throughout their growing cycle. Vegetable garden crops that can be enhanced by additional fertilization include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and corn just to name a few. While there are many ways to administer fertilize to the plants in your vegetable garden, we have found that a garden fertilizer injector is by far the easiest and most effective.

A garden fertilizer injector allows you to inject soluble fertilizer into your water supply so that you provide nutrients to your plants while watering them, saving you time and energy in your vegetable garden. The dissolved fertilizer is injected through the water source at a controlled rate, so that you’re able to administer it accurately and effectively. When used in combination with a drip irrigation system, you can administer fertilizer directly to the plant roots. This conserves fertilizer by only applying the fertilizer to areas of your garden where the plants can absorb it.

EZ-FLO Garden Fertilizer Injector

Our EZ-FLO Garden Fertilizer Injector is the best way we’ve found to fertilize our vegetable gardens! It has a heavy-duty, polyethylene tank that won’t cave in high pressure conditions. It can be easily attached to any standard water hose either at the faucet or between two connecting hoses. Simply add your water soluble fertilizer to the tank, select the application ratio setting on the tank lid, and you’re ready to fertilize while you water! It works great with the conventional 20-20-20 fertilizer blend used by many, but it also effectively administers fish emulsion for the organic farmer. Maximize the potential of your vegetable garden by providing all the right nutrients in all the right places!

We jumped on the drip irrigation bandwagon about five years ago and we haven’t turned back since. Here in Zone 8b, it can get quite warm later in the growing season. During these periods of high temperatures, it becomes very difficult to provide water to our vegetables plants in the garden. This is amplified when plants such as corn develop a foliage canopy, which makes it even more difficult to deliver water to the roots from an overhead source. This dilemma was the primary impetus for us beginning to use drip irrigation. Once we began using it, however, we discovered so many more benefits!

Benefits of Drip Irrigation

1. Water conservation. Because you’re only delivering water to the roots where the plant can absorb it, you won’t need to use near as much water. You won’t be watering leaves and paths between plants anymore, so you’ll save on your water and electric bill by watering less and more efficiently.

2. Fewer Weeds. Just like our vegetable plants, weeds need water to grow. When you water your garden from overhead, it delivers water between plant rows and allows weeds in those areas to thrive. Using drip tape eliminates watering those areas of your garden, which reduces weed germination and growth.

Drip Irrigation Supplies

3. Less Disease. Many common plant diseases and fungal infections are caused by excessive moisture on the plant foliage. By reducing the moisture in these areas, you’ll have fewer issues with disease and fungi in your vegetable garden. This is especially the case with crops like squash and pumpkin.

4. Fertilize Easier.Fertilizer Injectors are a wonderful tool that allow you to provide important nutrients to your plants while you water. A drip irrigation system amplifies the benefits of a fertilizer injector because it delivers those plant nutrients exactly where they need it. You’ll conserve fertilizer and have healthier looking plants as a result.

5. Increased Yields. Watering and providing nutrients more efficiently will always result in increased yields in your vegetable garden. Due to the ease of watering with drip irrigation, you won’t ever have to worry about your plants becoming stressed during the growing season. This will allow your vegetable plants to devote all their energy to producing large, flavorful fruits for you to enjoy.

While using drip irrigation does require a small bit of pre-planning with your garden design, it is well worth it once your vegetable garden is planted. Take the time and devote the resources now so you can reap the rewards in the future.

I recently saw this photo posted on a friend’s Facebook page and it prompted my response. These types of GMO posts are all over the web and are generally of this variety — extremely misleading and confusing. Allow me to explain.

What is a GMO?

The term “GMO”, which stands for genetically-modified organism, was originally coined to describe transgenic crop varieties. Transgenic varieties are genetically engineered by inserting a gene from an unrelated organism (usually bacteria) into the DNA of a plant species. The added gene gives the plant a certain characteristic that it would not otherwise have. Usually the characteristic is a resistance to a particular herbicide or disease. In the case of GMO-cotton, the plant is resistant to glyphosate (Roundup). This allows the grower to eliminate all weeds without damaging the cotton in the growing fields.

In the post above, corn is the only crop in which a true-GMO or transgenic variety has been developed. The other crops (banana, carrot, eggplant, watermelon) in the photo have changed over time through selective breeding and hybridization. This process involves taking two individuals of the same species and breeding them so that the offspring has desirable traits of both parent plants. So yes, they all have been “genetically modified” to some extent — but the processes are completely different. Inserting an unrelated gene into a plant is quite different than breeding two plants of the same species.

This photo is a perfect example of the plethora of misinformation you can find all over the internet regarding GMO and non-GMO food. We’re not here to promote or condemn GMO or non-GMO. But it is important that people are appropriately informed so they can make an educated decision for themselves and their family.

We believe that the only way to truly know what’s in your food is to grow it yourself!

Every year we like to draw a scaled, rough-sketch garden plan for our spring gardens. It’s not exact, but it does help us decide what to grow, where we will grow it and how much of it we will grow. Below are several reasons why you should do this too!

Why Make a Garden Plan?

It will give you an idea how much seed you will need. You will then know how much of each seed to purchase so you don’t waste money by buying extra seed that you won’t use.

It will help you decide which irrigation supplies you will need for watering your garden. Since we use drip irrigation, the garden plan provides information as to how much drip tape we will need for the spring season.

It will give you an idea of how much food you are going to get from your garden. This allows you to prepare and make room in your freezer(s) and pantries for the food you will preserve.

So what things should you consider when planning your vegetable garden?

Think about how much food you need for you and your family, and of course a little extra to give to friends.

Think about how much food you need in the freezer or pantry to feed your family during the winter when the garden isn’t producing warm season crops.

Think about which crops need to be harvested nearly every day (squash, tomatoes, cucumbers), which crops are harvested several times a season (peas, beans), and which crops will be a one-time harvest (corn, potatoes).

Below is the garden plan for our smaller, appropriately named Hoss Jr. Garden. For this particular garden, there are several crops we are not going to grow this spring because we have plenty in the freezer from last year. These crops include bush beans, butterbeans and okra. We are, however, growing quite a bit of field corn in an attempt to save money on our deer feeding costs throughout the year. Do what works for you!

For this year’s onion planting, we ordered a couple of onion sets from Dixondale Onions late last year. We received the onions in the mail a couple of weeks ago and were ready to plant! We ordered one bunch of the Southern Belle Red variety and a Short-Day Sampler bunch that included Texas White, Yellow Granex, and Southern Belle Red varieties. Based on our geographical location here in south Georgia, we must plant the “short-day” onion varieties. Because of our warm climate, we typically like to plant onions in November and harvest in early spring before we plant our warm-season crops. We are running a little behind this year, but it should be fine.

We went to the nearby dairy and picked up a load of manure to spread in the bed for our onion planting. We always like to amend our soils with compost at least once a growing season. Good compost or manure can alleviate many common garden problems such as diseases and fertilization issues in the future. We added the manure and worked it in with the Hoss Double Wheel Hoe. We then used the Row Maker to make four rows for planting our onion transplants. We will keep these watered and fertilize in a few weeks once they become well-established. Below is a video of the entire process. Enjoy!

We always grow more than enough in our gardens. We love to grow so many different crops and varieties that we often end up with way too much produce. We freeze or can as much as we can eat and give a lot to family and friends. Because of the surplus, we are always trying to come up with new ways to preserve our harvests so that we have it through the entire year..

We ALWAYS have a surplus of peppers because we usually plant every variety we can find. We like to make lots of salsa and pepper jelly, so the peppers almost always get used. We like to make pepper jelly with different pepper variety combinations to achieve different levels of sweet and spicy, and to play with the beautiful colors the peppers provide.

Our basic green pepper jelly recipe uses only bell pepper and jalapenos. This recipe is extremely easy and tasty! This year alone, we have made over 40 jars of jelly — some green, some red and some yellow.

While the Hoss Jr. Fall Vegetable Garden on the other side of the county is in full swing, the larger garden area here at the Hoss Homestead has not been planted since spring. We were so busy planting and maintaining our new exhibit at the 2014 Sunbelt Ag Expo, we did not have time to plant our usual Fall Vegetable Garden on the Hoss Farm. The only thing we did to this plot recently was harrow the area with a tractor to work the soil and incorporate those dead and remaining spring plants into the dirt. Then we got to thinking …

Because our vegetable garden design at the Sunbelt Ag Expo worked so well, we decided to design our home vegetable garden in a similar fashion. For years and years we’ve gardened this plot in long rows stretching the length of the plot. While this worked well for some crops, it didn’t work as well for others. And while we had good yields, it made the area hard to rotate from season to season because there were no defined boundaries between different crops. So now we are planning our garden to have individual plots that we can rotate crops amongst, making the garden itself more manageable and less susceptible to pests and disease.

Our fall garden is now in full swing with a variety of crops which include some that were direct seeded and others that were transplanted from greenhouse start-ups. One of the first plots we started several weeks ago was our carrot, radish and beet area. We used the Hoss Double Wheel Hoe with Plow Attachment to make hills and we planted 4 varieties of carrots, 4 varieties of beets, and 3 varieties of radishes.

The carrot varieties we planted included two orange types, (Nelson and Sugarsnax 54), a white one (White Satin), and a purple variety (Purple Haze). The White Satin variety is performing the best while the Purple Haze variety has been the lesser of the four, with lower germination and very slow growth.

We planted three varieties of radish which included a red (Shunkyo Semi-Long), a black (Nero Tondo) and a purple (KN-Bravo) variety. All of these are performing well and had excellent germination. The beets we planted were two red varieties (Cylindra and Red Ace), a white (Blankoma) and a yellow (Boldor). Of these beets the Red Ace and Blankoma varieties have performed best, while the Boldor variety had sub-par germination and the Cylindra variety did not germinate at all.

We have several rows of lettuce that we transplanted from greenhouse start-ups. These are all heat tolerant varieties that are able to withstand the south Georgia heat that tends to persist late into the year. We have Romaine, Cherokee (red), Salanova (green and red), Bibb and Butterhead (green and red) varieties transplanted. Much of the Romaine is ready to cut and we have been enjoying it regularly in nightly meals. We plant these rows fairly close and use the Hoss Cultivator Teeth or Oscillating Hoe attachments to keep the weeds under control.

We also transplanted some China Gold Cabbage and Bok Choy to the right of the lettuce in the picture above. Next to those we planted Spinach, two rows of Mustard microgreens (Red Giant and Scarlet Frills) and Red Russian Kale using the Hoss Seeder. All four of these came up very well and will not need thinning due to the accurate singulation of the Hoss Seeder. We also have a few other microgreens (Tatsoi and Mizuna) started in the greenhouse that we will transplant later.

This past weekend we transplanted Toscano Kale and Red Cabbage to the right of the microgreens and yesterday we transplanted this beautiful Rainbow Chard. The Chard required a bit of a delicate touch while stepping up greenhouse plants from smaller to larger containers, but we ended up with more than enough for transplanting.

We have a variety of broccoli named Green Magic that is particularly heat resistant. This was transplanted from greenhouse start-ups as well and is growing fast in this well-drained soil.

We love fall gardening as the crops are easy to maintain and the bountiful harvest seems endless. We encourage everyone to find varieties that are suitable for your climate and grow your own food throughout the fall. Stay tuned for future updates as we will be planting onions and garlic soon in addition to harvesting all of the crops above.

We are always trying new things in the Hoss Test Gardens. We love to grow our own vegetables and we are eager to try new ones. If we like a new one and are successful with it, we will usually add it to the yearly rotation. However, in some cases growing new things may not work out as planned. This could be due to incorrect climate, disease susceptibility, or simply that we just didn’t like the taste or texture of it. Below are the new things we are trying this year and that hopefully we will be successful in growing for years to come!

– Giant Pumpkins:
We got these seeds from Bill’s Big Pumpkins and we are hoping to grow some giant pumpkins ourselves! These are labeled with a marker according to the parent name. Be on the lookout for some awesome pictures if these grow as big as advertised.

– Elephant Garlic:
We grew this in our high tunnel greenhouse this year and it has done really well. It is not a “true garlic,” but is actually a variety of leek. We planted it quite a while ago and we are still waiting for the leaves to brown before harvesting, so it’s fair to say that this one requires plenty of patience.

– Chinese Noodle Beans:
We planted these long, running beans from seed directly in the garden and had a good germination rate. We have a panel trellis set up for them to climb. These beans are supposed to get about a foot long and are said to be great for stir-fry.

www.rareseeds.com

– Chia:
Chia seed is a great “superfood” that we are going to try and harvest ourselves to save money at the local natural foods store. We started these from seed in the greenhouse and transplanted the plants into the garden. They have put on a ton of leaves and developed thick stems, but we have yet to see any of these beautiful violet blooms.

www.healthinessbox.com

– Table Dainty Squash:
This is our first attempt at growing winter squash. This is a climbing variety that we planted late spring and had a good germination rate. We also have a panel trellis set up for these to climb. Winter squash have a longer shelf life and we hope to be storing and eating these for a while.

www.rareseeds.com

– Rainbow Chard:
We love all kinds of greens and we are excited about adding this one to the lineup. We planted these from seed directly into the soil, but in hindsight probably should have started them earlier in the greenhouse. The germination rate has been good and the range of stem colors are now starting to show.

www.sweetwater-organic.org

We encourage everyone to try at least one new crop in their garden every year. Growing things for the first time can be fun but challenging, and a mystery all at the same time. And if you’re lucky, what started as a trial might become your new favorite vegetable to grow!

We absolutely love tomatoes and we love to grow an abundance of them every year. We eat them fresh off the vine on a tomato sandwich and we preserve them in many different ways including salsa, spaghetti sauce, chili sauce, and homemade ketchup. While growing, tomatoes, plants must be trellised in some way to keep the plants and that delicious fruit off the ground, away from pests and fungus. Depending on how many tomatoes you plan on growing, the time you have, and the money you are willing to spend, there are many different ways that tomato trellising can be done to keep plants off the ground.

Florida Weave

The Florida Weave is an old staking and stringing technique that works well if you are growing a whole row or rows of tomatoes. This is the technique we prefer as we typically grow at least one long, 100+ ft. row. We use metal stakes on the end and throughout the row and use Cotton Butchers String or Gro-Tie Twine to do the stringing. Weave the string in a figure 8 on both sides of the plants from row end to row end, wrapping around each stake in the row. As the plants grow, simply weave another line of string higher on the stakes to support the plants. This technique is relatively inexpensive assuming everyone has some metal stakes or old fence posts laying around and all you have to purchase is the twine or string. However, this technique can be more time consuming than others as string must be added as plants grow.

Tomato Cages

Tomato cages are ideal for those people who grow just a few tomato plants and have less time on their hands. This is also a good solution for people who have limited gardening space. Quality tomato cages are more expensive than a box of string, but they are also durable, re-usable, and fold up for easy storage in the off-season. Our Tomato Cages are made of heavy, 9 gauge wire, have large 8″ square openings for harvesting, and are available in 40″ or 58″ tall versions. These cages are much more durable than the flimsy, cone-shaped supports that can be found at your local big box store.

Panel Trellis

A panel trellis is a good solution for those people who have more than a few plants, but do not necessarily plant a whole row of tomatoes. As with the tomato cages, the panel trellis technique can be more expensive than simply buying a roll of string, but it requires less time and panels are re-usable one growing season to the next. There are a variety of different panels one could use for this technique, from a galvanized livestock fence panel to a cut piece of fencing. Our Pea Trellis provides a heavy duty solution as it is made of heavy, 9 gauge wire, has large openings for harvesting, and folds up nicely for compact storage in the off-season.

Depending on the amount of tomatoes you plan on growing, the time you have to take care of them, and the amount of money you are willing to spend, we are confident that one of these solutions will help keep your tomatoes off the ground and your produce abundant. Here’s to a great tomato crop for everyone this spring/summer growing season!

I started keeping honey bees at our garden a few years ago. Bee pollination is necessary for crops such as squash, cucumbers, melons and a multitude of other vegetables and fruits. If you have ever had trouble with poor pollination, you may want to start keeping bees at your garden. Here are a few tips to make sure you are “Bee Friendly:”

Plant cut flowers with your spring/summer garden. Cut flowers such as sunflowers and zinnias are easy to grow from seed. Plant them in rows in your spring/summer garden and they will attract pollinators for your crops and provide beauty to your garden all growing season long.

Use organic pesticides. If you use pesticides in your garden, make sure it is organically sourced. Pesticides containing neonicotinoids and other harmful chemicals can have detrimental effects on bee behavior and fertility. One known harmful effect of non-organic pesticides on bees is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which results in the death of adult bees and eventual demise of the colony.

Have a clean water source nearby. Bees use water for cooling the hive through evaporation and for thinning honey to feed to larva. We use a bucket with clean water with a little pine straw in it. The pine straw provides the bees a solid footing during water consumption.

Plant a flowering cover crop. Crimson clover is a short-lived perennial that can be planted in late summer or early spring. It works great for attracting bees and fixing nitrogen in the soil, improving soil fertility.

Although we love the taste, texture and beauty of heirloom tomatoes, we unfortunately are lucky if 1 out of every 10 plants makes any tomatoes each year. Therefore we have settled to the point where we are happy if we simply get enough heirlooms for a couple of tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches. Our ultimate enemy in the heirloom tomato battle is the tomato spotted wilt virus (tospovirus), which is spread by thrips.

Ever since the late 80s we cannot grow the old tomato varieties. The tomato spotted wilt virus is a very aggravating one. After carefully tending to the tomatoes day after day, I would walk out to the garden one day and they would all be wilted. They looked like they just needed water, but it was all over at that point. There is no cure for the virus and once a plant is infected, you might as well pull it up. Much research was done when the problem first arose, but the initial virus resistant varieties were lacking in flavor. As a result, many gardeners were still attempting to grow the heirlooms.

After giving up on tomatoes for a while, we started experimenting with the virus resistant ones a couple of years ago. We tried Amelia, Fletcher, Bella Rosa, Mountain Glory and Talladega varieties. Amelia was very virus resistant, but the flavor was not up to par in my opinion. The other four all performed well and had great taste. This year we will grow Bella Rosa (see photo) and a new variety called Tasti-Lee (www.tasti-lee.com). The Tasti-Lee variety was naturally developed by the University of Florida, and it is a vine-ripened variety that is supposed to bring significant improvements to flavor and health (50% more lycopene). We are excited about trying this new tomato variety and will share our results this summer. So if you’re having trouble growing tomatoes, try one of the virus resistant varieties. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

You no longer have to count on one warm season to produce all your vegetables. You can grow food year round with some of the new advances in agricultural technology. Now you can enjoy a fresh salad and other fresh veggies during the coldest winter months.

We have just installed a new 28’ x 48’ High tunnel here at Hoss Farms. We are located in Zone 8b (2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map) and therefore are able to grow most cole crops (Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, and turnips) throughout the winter. With the addition of the High tunnel, we are now able to grow these crops faster while alleviating the risk of tip burn as a result of low temperature anomalies.

Grow Food Year Round with a High Tunnel

We tested the new Salanova® lettuce last year in our smaller greenhouse and was pleased with this new edition to our winter crops. We will start most seeds in our smaller, heated greenhouse using our heated germination mats and then transplant to the High tunnel. We have used a large amount of compost to build our soils in the High tunnel and the Hoss Wheel Hoe will keep the weeds down. We hope to enjoy fresh food all winter long.

The Hoss Garden is in full swing and the tomatoes are coming in strong. A couple of years ago, we installed a small greenhouse to grow our own plants. I wanted to try new varieties of tomatoes and other peppers. I had only planted Amelia’s the last few years, because that’s all I could get. Last year, I trialed the following varieties: Mt. Glory, Talladega, Bella Rosa, Fletcher and a few heirloom (just for the fun of it). I can only grow Spotted Wilt Virus Resistant Tomatoes for the most part. I always try to grow a few heirlooms and a couple generally make it. While all the F1 Hybrids did fairly well, Bella Rosa was my favorite, and that’s the only Round Hybrid I grew this year. It’s a nice large uniform fruit with very little cracking. It has large yields and it tastes great! Next year, I want to try Tasti-Lee, a new one developed by the University of Florida.

Drip Irrigation in the Hoss Garden

I use no commercial fertilizer. I apply a large amount of cow manure compost a month before planting. I plant all of my garden on Drip Tape, no plastic mulch, just drip tape. We use the Hoss Double Wheel Hoe with the furrow attachments to install the tape about 4″ to 6″ deep. I plant right next to the tape. In the past, I had a lot of blossom end rot, but haven’t had that problem in the last two years. We have all heard that calcium deficiency and improper watering causes this. My soil samples have always showed a high calcium level. However I believe the calcium was unavailable. The combination of large amount of good compost and drip irrigation works for us the Hoss Garden. Very little insect and disease pressure makes growing tomatoes one of my favorite things to grow.

To see pictures of the Hoss Garden, like us on Facebook and check out our YouTube channel. We’d love to see your pictures too!

While you may already be familiar with the variety, here’s how we became familiar with the fairytale pumpkin:

On a recent trip to Germany, we stumbled on a outdoor produce market in downtown Mannheim. I have always been interested in how people in different cultures raise, sell, cook and eat their food. I thought, “This is great because this is where the locals shop.” We wandered around, unable to communicate with anyone with the language barrier. I was amazed at the presentation and cleanliness of the way they marketed their produce. It wasn’t a dusty, dirty kind of open-air market!

I spotted something I had never seen before. It was a variety of pumpkin called Musquee De Provence. A little research when we got home revealed that in the US this variety is sometimes called Fairytale Pumpkin. A deep ribbed and sort of flat pumpkin with a dull red outside caught my eye.

But it was the inside that blew me away. A thick, deep-red flesh inside tempted you to just pick it up and eat it like an apple. They cut it in quarters and sell it that way. It’s a Southern France mainstay and great for cooking. They average 8-15lbs. and store well. Seeds are available from www.rareseeds.com and www.johnnyseeds.com.

I have ordered mine and they will have a home in the Hoss Garden this year.

A few days ago, a lady from Alabama called. She was just getting started in Spin Farming. Having met Lee Mcbride, a Spin Representative, at the Georgia Organic Conference, I’d heard of it before, but wanted to know a little more.

I went to their web site to check it out. They teach you how to garden, or even market farm, on a small plot of land – less than an acre. The biggest barrier to farming is acquiring land, but Spin Farming shows people how to generate a farming income using their lawns. They teach people how to plan and what the economics of small farming are.

The two biggest barriers facing aspiring farmers are access to sizeable acreage and coming up with substantial start up capital. The methods of Spin Farming effectively eliminate both of those obstacles. There is little real-world help for gardeners who would like to earn an income by doing what we love to do. Spin Farming provides that assistance.

After meeting Lee, talking to the lady from Alabama, and taking a closer look at the Spin Farming site, I wanted to know more, so I emailed Roxanne Christensen who operates Somerton Tanks Farm using the Spin Farming method. Roxanne has managed to gross as much as $68,000 on just 20,000 square feet of land.

Operations like Roxanne’s show that there is an amazing opportunity out there for small farmers. As interest in locally grown food continues to rise, the time is ripe for aspiring farmers to take action and learn how to farm on whatever land is available.

We love the idea of community gardening! A few months ago, Hoss had the opportunity to donate one of our Wheel Hoes to the Community of Jesus – an ecumenical Christian community made up of monastic Brothers & Sisters, along with married couples, families and single adults located in Orleans, Massachusetts. This community of 230 members, strong in their commitment to their faith and way of life, are also master gardeners!

Brother Andrew Smith is, as we have come to know, the chief gardener of the community gardening. He oversees three main gardens plus two potato patches – in all, the Community has about 2/3 of an acre under cultivation. We felt the members of this Community would greatly benefit from one of our Wheel Hoes – not only to take the strain out of gardening but to help the members really enjoy planting and harvesting their vegetables and fruits and get the most out of their crops.

At Hoss Tools, we are huge fans of sustainable gardening, and the Community of Jesus does an incredible job. Oh, and we have to mention the fact that the Community also has cows, chickens and goats! A true working farm with both plants and animals – coming together to provide for community members.

We decided to check back in with Brother Andrew to find out how things with the Hoss Wheel Hoe have been going and to hear how their day-to-day gardening duties have changed. As a side note, the Community grows all of their fruits and vegetables for their own consumption – so the proof is definitely in the pudding when mealtime comes around!

“We grow enough vegetables for 65 Sisters and 25 Brothers, so we are self sufficient in vegetables during the summer months, plus hopefully enough to freeze some for the wintertime,” said Brother Andrew. Vegetables that the members grow include: green beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, strawberries, leeks, onions, carrots and potatoes.

Community Gardening with Hoss

So how has the Hoss Wheel Hoe performed? “The Hoss Wheel Hoe has been extremely helpful, ” says Brother Andrew. “We find that when we use it about every other day between all the rows of vegetables, it kept our weed count down to almost zero. We estimate it saved us hours and hours of wedding plus it made the garden look clean and cultivated.”

He added, “We place a high regard on beauty in the Community so the Hoss (wheel hoe) helped not only keep the weeds down but gave the gardens a very clean appearance.”

We feel very fortunate to have helped out such a hardworking, earnest group – the Community is a great model for sustainability and success in gardening for consumption. Grown on, Brother Andrew! The fruits of your labor are evident to us!

Back in August of last year a friend and I were on our way to Holmes County, Ohio, to visit with some Amish customers. We decided to stop in Jamestown, Tennessee, to spend the night with my friend’s Grandmother. I had heard about this region from my friend and was anxious to see the lay of the land and meet the mountain people I had heard about. Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress County, is located on the Cumberland Plateau, and sits in the eastern-most section of Middle Tennessee. Mrs. Lu, as we called her, lived in the county, a few miles from town on a small winding road in an old farmhouse.

We arrived late in the afternoon, and I immediately noticed the garden growing next to the house. Being a garden nut, I wandered over to take a gander at it. The first thing I noticed was that this was not a fad or something these people were trying for the first time. This garden was there for one reason — to produce food!

There were no raised beds, fancy fences or China-made gazing balls. You could tell the object here was to have the maximum amount of output with the least amount of cost. Rows of pole beans were growing on tripod trellises. The trellises consisted of whatever wood could be found in the nearby hardwood bottoms.

The pole beans were an old, large flat variety that I had not seen in years. I remembered them from when I was a boy and people grew them for the fresh market. I noticed tomatoes and other vegetables growing in the back of the garden. I could not enjoy the rest of it, for admiring the pole beans. Being about eight feet tall, they had to have a ladder to harvest them. You could tell it was a main staple of their diet. They canned them outside under a large tree and depended on them for the winter.

Mrs. Lu, knowing we were coming, had prepared a large dinner for us. As we walked into the kitchen I was reminded of my grandmother’s kitchen. It was small, and there weren’t many cabinets. Only the essentials had a place here. We sat down at the small table and passed the bowls back and forth to fill our plates.

After I got a generous portion of pole beans, I noticed a plate of fried okra. I do love fried okra and probably got more than my share. When I tasted the okra I thought it was good, but different than I what I was used to. When Mrs. Lu came back in to refill our glasses with sweet tea, I commented on how great the food was and questioned her as to the variety of okra. She said that was vine okra. I had always grown Clemson Spineless and was familiar with a few other heirloom varieties, but I had never heard of vine okra. Being something of a self-pronounced expert on vegetable gardening, I figured she had gotten confused or misunderstood the correct variety. I did, however, know that it was good and different and I had to know what it was. I asked if, after dinner, she would show me the plants growing in the garden. She showed me a few plants growing on a tripod trellis similar to the pole beans. It was full of yellow flowers and, yes, it was a vine. I had grown some Loofah sponge before and knew this plant resembled it.

Where to Find Vine Okra?

After returning home I Googled “vine okra” and found it to actually be an edible gourd: Luffa acutangula. Common name: Vine Okra. Mrs. Lu was right after all. I found seeds at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and I grew vine okra in my garden this year. I think it will have a place for years to come.